More on Mexican prisons

USA Today has an interesting story about Mexican organized crime syndicates controlling prisons around that country. The story relies heavily on anecdotes from a prison in Saltillo controlled by Los Zetas:

They now operate stores and charge the inmates to use workshops. They even opened a strip joint that serves shots of whiskey under the Los Zetas brand.

Los Zetas enforce its various rules through intimidation and violence, Coogan says, and their control appears in surprising ways. The prison leader forces inmates to attend a weekly flag-raising ceremony and attend education classes, Coogan says. Robberies are now infrequent.